Chapter 3 - The Assistant’s TrapAll heads whipped toward the shadows near the kitchen doors.
Marcus Vance, Harrison Sterling’s impeccably dressed, ice-cold executive assistant, froze in his tracks. He had one hand resting on the brass handle of the emergency exit, a leather briefcase clutched tightly in his other hand.
“Grab him!” Ethan commanded.
Before Marcus could push the door open, four private security guards slammed into him, pinning him face-first against the mahogany paneling. The leather briefcase flew from his grip, bursting open on the marble floor.
Out spilled dozens of thick manila folders, a digital hard drive, and—most damning of all—a small glass vial identical in residue to the one Ethan had just tested.
Harrison Sterling rushed forward, his face twisting in fury. “Marcus! What is the meaning of this? Did you plant this nonsense?”
Marcus didn’t look at Harrison. Instead, he slowly turned his head, staring straight at Ethan with a chilling, deadpan smile.
“You’re too smart for your own good, Caldwell,” Marcus rasped, blood trickling slightly from his lip where he’d hit the door. “You should have just drank the water like a good little groom.”
“Why?” Ethan demanded, stepping down from the stage and walking slowly toward the pinned man like a predator closing in on its prey. “Was this Harrison’s idea? Or did Brooke orchestrate it?”
“Ethan, stop!” Brooke screamed, running down the steps and grabbing his arm. “Marcus is just a disgruntled employee! He must have gone rogue! You can’t possibly believe my father or I had anything to do with this!”
Ethan looked down at Brooke’s hand on his arm. He didn't pull away, but his eyes were like chips of blue ice.
“Let’s find out,” Ethan said. He signaled to Owen, who was walking over with the opened briefcase and the spilled documents.
Owen picked up one of the manila folders, flipped open the cover, and blanched.
“Ethan… you need to see this right now,” Owen said, his voice shaking. “These aren't just corporate files. These are transfer documents. All of Caldwell Systems’ primary infrastructure assets, patents, and real estate holdings… they were scheduled to be legally transferred to a shell company in the Cayman Islands at 12:01 AM tonight.”
The ballroom erupted into sheer pandemonium.
Harrison Sterling lunged forward to grab the file, but Ethan intercepted him with a brutal, lightning-fast shove that sent the older man stumbling backward into the arms of two startled senators.
May you like
“It’s a complete forgery!” Harrison roared, spitting with rage. “A setup! Ethan, you’re destroying our families over a little girl's fairy tale!”
“It’s not a forgery, Harrison,” Ethan said, pulling a encrypted tablet from his suit jacket and tapping the screen twice. “Because the digital signatures on these transfer documents belong to my wife. To Brooke.”
